Antitoxin
by bikelock28
Summary: Missing moment from OotP Ch12. RW/HG friendship with a bit of HP friendship too. "Hermione- are we arguing about arguing?" "I think we might be," "We really are hopeless, aren't we?" he smiles. "Come on, we'll try it. It'll be a game," "How-Long-Can-Ron-And-Hermione-Go-Without-Bickering? Coming soon to all good entertainment retailers!


**Continuation of the scene when Harry snaps and Ron and at lunch in ****_Order of The Phoenix, _****Chapter 12 ****_Professor Umbridge. _**

**Book, characters and first few lines of dialogue property of JK Rowling. **

Antitoxin

"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots. Anyway, I've always thought Dumbledore was cracked to trust Snape," says Ron. Snape was a Death Eater, and Ron's pretty convinced that once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. Look at Lucius Malfoy; he was there when You-Know-Who returned. That puts Snape in a distinctly dodgy position, "Where's the evident he ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who?"

Hermione pins him with a look, "I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share it with you, Ron,". Dumbledore knows what he's doing. Dumbledore _always_ knows what he's doing. If Dumbledore trusts Snape, then Snape is trustworthy. He still hates Harry, but sometimes Hermione wishes that the boys could put this to one side and look at him objectively. Of course they all wish that Dumbledore told them everything, but he must have his reasons not to and he's never been wrong before.

Ron begins to argue- _Dumbledore's being naive!_ _His love-will-save-us-Harry fixation won't work now You-Know-Who is physically back and reassembling an army and has already killed a boy- _but then Harry barks, "Oh, shut up, the pair of you!"

Ron's mouth stays open as his and Hermione's heads snap around to look at Harry.

"Can't you give it a rest?" he continues sharply, as Hermione frowns, "You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad,"

He drops his cutlery to his plate, hurls his schoolbag onto his shoulder and marches away.

They watch him go in silence for a few moments, and then, "What was all that about?" says Ron heavily, "Why's he got his knickers in a twist that you and me are bickering with each other? He should be used to it by now,"

Hermione smirks.

"I'm right, though," continues Ron, "That's our thing, isn't it? Fighting?"

"Yes, it is," she agrees, giving him a smile.

"We don't _mean _anything by it," clarifies Ron, "I mean, we disagree about pretty much everything, but we're still friends. Harry knows that,"

"I'm sure he does. He gets angry about things very quickly these days," Hermione notes (she's been noticing it ever since he arrived at Grimmauld Place).

_"__Right," _agrees Ron vehemently, "You see it too! He's snaps at me for the tiniest thing these days, and he does it with you too. He's my best friend but, God, I wish he'd cut us a bit of slack,"

"It's because of Cedric,"

"What?"

"He's upset about Cedric dying and he feels angry that he didn't do anything to stop it,"

"But Harry couldn't have-"

"I know, but he still feels guilty and frustrated. Like when you feel 'If only I'd done this, if only I'd done that'- that's how Harry feels about Cedric, and it's harder because nobody else was there when it happened, so Harry feels he has to deal with it by himself,"

"But he doesn't have to-"

"Yes, but this is _Harry,_" she points out, "I'm not saying he likes to deal with things on his own, but sometimes…well, things go happen to him on his own and Harry's very aware of that. And on top of all this he's got all this ministry and Seamus and Lavender stuff to deal with. He feels like everyone's saying he's crazy or a liar. You and me are angry enough about that, so think about what it must be like for Harry. And all that makes him feel even worse about Cedric, and the whole thing gets bigger and more infuriating, and he feels like everybody at school's out to get him and nobody's on his side, and that's why he keeps jumping down our throats,"

A long pause greets this analysis.

"One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode," says Ron, staring at her, "Hermione, you're forgetting that Harry's a _boy,"_

"And you're forgetting that not all boys' minds are only full of food, Quidditch and how low Madam Rosmerta's dress is," she replies curtly, "Harry's…Harry's not a normal boy, and since Cedric died he's even less like a normal boy. He's seen You-Know-Who return, Ron!"

"I…I suppose it does make sense then,"

"Of course he's angry, but it would be nice if he stopped taking his temper out on us," she sighs.

"I'll tell him so. You and me are his friends; it isn't fair that he kicking off at us,"

"Tell him tactfully though, Ron. Don't go alienating him from us, that'll only make it worse,"

"Alright, alright. I'll see him in Divination,"

"And do you think, perhaps…perhaps you and me should try and call a truce?"

"What?"

"Our fighting sets Harry off, doesn't it? We know _we _don't mean anything by it, but shouldn't we try and avoid anything which Harry gets angry at us for?"

"If we didn't argue, Hermione, we'd never talk,"

"Don't be stupid. You ask me to do your homework-"

"And you tell me I should have done it last week. And then we argue. See? I'm not saying I like it, but it's…us, isn't it?"

"We could try, though. For Harry…."

There's a pause, and Ron says uncertainly, "Hermione- are we arguing about arguing?"

"I think we might be,"

"We really are hopeless, aren't we?" he smiles.

"Come on, we'll try it. It'll be a game,"

"How-Long-Can-Ron-And-Hermione-Go-Without-Bickering? Coming soon to all good entertainment retailers!

"People can place bets," she laughs.

"Fred and George are good at that. They could work out odds for us,"

"Three to one on twenty minutes not fighting, five to one on half an hour,"

"You really think we can go twenty minutes?" he deadpans.

They joke about it for a while, before agreeing, "Okay, seriously, we'll try and go the rest of the day without having a go at each other. Even if it's only jokey having-a-go,"

"Agreed," says Hermione.

"We've got Umbridge later, so we might need, you know, co-operation,"

"You mean you'll need me to listen for you,"

"In the interests of not arguing, Hermione, I'm going to confirm that yes, I will need you to listen for me, and I will be very grateful when you do," he says in an exaggeratedly Percy-ish voice.

"And I will be very appreciative of your gratitude," she replies with dignity.

He stands up, bows formally to her, then snaps out of character to announce briskly, "Right, got to go to Divination now- yawn,"

"Good luck with Trelawney,"

"God, I'll need it," he sighs, "She's probably going to predict Harry being killed by a drunken Kappa; that'll cheer him up,"

"Well, you don't want to be late. And remember to go easy on Harry,"

"I know. I'll see you later for an ordinary, peaceful conversation where we both agree on everything,"

"I agree with that. See, we're getting there already,"

Ron laughs, gives her a beam and hurries off to Divination.

**Thanks for reading. Whatever your opinion, please review to let me know what you thought. Thanks very much!**


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